Welcome to Penn State Hershey Radiology

Recognizing a Leader in Radiology Education:
The G. Victor Rohrer Professorship in Radiology Education
At Penn State University College of Medicine

Honoring a Lifetime of Achievement

Dr. G. Victor (Vic) Rohrer served Penn State’s College of Medicine and the Department of Radiology for over 28 years in a variety of capacities. His distinguished career as gastroenterologist and gastrointestinal radiologist included developing the first residency in Diagnostic Radiology at Penn State and serving as its first Program Director from 1977 until 1982.

Dr. Rohrer received his undergraduate degree from Oklahoma State University in 1954 and his M.D. at the University of Oklahoma in 1958. He was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha honorary fraternity upon his medical school graduation. Dr. Rohrer completed an internship at the Cincinnati General Hospital and returned to Oklahoma City for his internal medicine residency. He developed a fascination with gastrointestinal medicine and received an NIH supported fellowship which included an initial year of laboratory research. His grants supported the purchase of the first electron microscope at the University of Oklahoma. After completing his fellowship, Dr. Rohrer took on the post of Chief Resident in Medicine at the University of Oklahoma, and received the exposure to the disciplines of medical teaching and administration that marked the rest of his career.

In 1964 Dr. Rohrer was appointed Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Oklahoma. After several years of gastroenterology practice, a colleague convinced him of the practicality of studying the gastrointestinal tract with fluoroscopy; Dr. Rohrer began his Radiology residency in 1966, completing his training in 1969. He combined the two disciplines every day; teaching radiology and performing GI Radiology in the morning and clinical gastroenterology in the afternoons.

In 1971, he was recruited to the new Department of Radiology at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center by Dr. William Weidner. Here for the first six years he continued the practice of both GI Radiology and Gastroenterology. He and Dr. Robert Dye set up HMC’s first endoscopy clinic. In 1972 he became Vice Chair of the Department and, after the arrival of the first Radiology resident in 1974, he became the first Radiology Residency Program Director in 1977. At this time he ceased his gastroenterology practice to concentrate on the education of his “young doctors”. The early program was structured such that each resident spent 2 years at HMC and 1 year each at the two Harrisburg hospitals, integrating smaller programs at Polyclinic and Harrisburg hospitals into the Penn State program. Generations of Central Pennsylvania radiologist benefited greatly from the program he developed and with which he remained integrally a part until his retirement in 1998.

In 1982, Dr. Rohrer increased his administrative service, becoming Associate Dean for Patient Care and Chief of Staff under Dean and Senior Vice President for Health Affairs Harry Prystowsky. At this time he handed over the thriving Radiology Residency Program to Dr. Lottie Varano. Dr. Rohrer became the Chief of Staff at the Elizabethtown Hospital and Rehabilitation Center in 1983, and in 1987 was named Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs, a post he held until 1993. He continued to practice radiology and to teach gastrointestinal radiology to Radiology residents until his retirement in 1998.

Today, Dr. Rohrer and his wife of nearly 50 years, Jean, still remain involved with the Department of Radiology. Vic serves as advisor and elder statesman and continues to share his wisdom with all those who seek it.

The G. Victor Rohrer Professorship in Radiology Education

An endowed professorship provides the ongoing resources to recognize and reward an accomplished Professor, enabling him or her to devote time to the academic pursuits of developing new knowledge including in the areas of innovative teaching methods and health care delivery. Medical education in all disciplines is threatened by lack of a financial support stream. State support for medical education is very limited in Pennsylvania. Clinical revenues, long tapped to support the academic missions, suffer from decreasing reimbursements. The resultant pressures on academic physicians to increase clinical volume threatens the educational process.